Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C, a Washington-based lobbying firm, says it has begun providing US Department of Justice (DOJ) records concerning drug trafficking allegations against President Bola Tinubu to members of the Donald Trump administration, Congress, and senior congressional staff.
Von Batten-Montague-York was hired by Atiku Abubakar,
presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), in March under a
12-month, $1.2 million lobbying contract to help strengthen his reputational
standing in the US, facilitate engagements with US officials and congress, and
counter what the contract describes as the Nigerian government’s lobbying
narratives.
In a post on X, the firm said many within the US government
were previously unaware of the DOJ’s allegations concerning Tinubu and that it
intended to ensure that the complete collection of DOJ court filings, a
supporting affidavit, and related federal court decisions are brought to
Trump’s attention.
“Following discussions with members of the @realDonaldTrump
Administration, Congress, and senior congressional staff, we began providing
more than 60 pages of @TheJusticeDept documents concerning the DOJ’s
allegations of Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s (@officialABAT) alleged
involvement in a heroin trafficking investigation spanning the late 1980s and
early 1990s,” the firm wrote.
The firm made public a document titled “Background and
Chronology of the 1993 U.S. Department of Justice Heroin-Proceeds Forfeiture
Case and the 2023 FOIA Litigation Concerning Alleged Heroin Trafficking from
Nigeria to the United States Involving Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the current President
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
According to the document circulated by Von Batten’s firm,
the US department of justice held that a Nigeria-based heroin trafficking
organisation imported white heroin into the United States and transported it
from Nigeria to Chicago, where it was distributed through the organisation’s
members and associates.
The individuals identified in the government’s allegations,
in United States v. Funds in Account No. 263226700 et al., No. 93 C 4483, were
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Adegboyega Mueez Akande, and Abiodun Agbele.
The document states that between 1988 and 1991, federal
investigators looked into a heroin trafficking organisation operating in the
United States, and that the government stated proceeds from the organisation
were deposited into bank accounts in the United States owned and controlled by
Tinubu.
Tinubu was said to have opened multiple bank accounts that
he owned and controlled, used to receive and transfer funds alleged to be
proceeds of heroin trafficking. The document described Akande as a longtime
acquaintance of Tinubu whom the DOJ alleged was the leader of the trafficking
organisation, and who the government said provided the funds used by Tinubu to
open one of the accounts.
The document described Agbele as an associate whom Tinubu
said he met through Akande, and that Tinubu admitted knowing Agbele and
associating with him in both Nigeria and the United States.
The DOJ alleged Agbele sold heroin for the organisation
before being arrested while selling heroin to an undercover law enforcement
officer, and that he later cooperated with federal investigators.
The document stated that the DOJ filed the forfeiture case
in 1993 in the U.S. district court for the Northern District of Illinois,
seeking forfeiture of funds which they termed proceeds of heroin trafficking or
property involved in money laundering.
The DOJ went on to seize the funds identified in the
complaint, and the matter concluded through a negotiated civil forfeiture
settlement, under which a portion of the funds was forfeited to the United
States.
The document further traced subsequent efforts to obtain
records relating to the case. It said journalist Aaron Greenspan filed a
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in 2023 seeking records from multiple
federal agencies relating to the historical investigation.
According to the chronology, a US district court for the
District of Columbia ruled in 2025 that certain federal agencies, including the
FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), could not rely on a blanket
refusal to confirm or deny the existence of responsive records for portions of
the FOIA request and ordered them to process responsive records in accordance
with the FOIA.
The chronology said the litigation remains ongoing. It also
stated that, following discussions with members of the White House and senior
congressional staff, the chronology, court records and FOIA decisions were
being provided to several house and senate committees “for informational and
oversight purposes” in light of Nigeria’s strategic relationship with the
United States and reports that Tinubu is seeking a meeting with Trump during
the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.
The issue of Tinubu’s US forfeiture case featured
prominently in litigation arising from the 2023 presidential election. Peter
Obi, former presidential candidate of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of
the PDP argued before the presidential election petition court (PEPC) that
Tinubu ought to have been disqualified over the 1993 civil forfeiture of
$460,000 in the United States.
However, in its judgment, the PEPC held that the petitioners
failed to establish that Tinubu had been convicted for any criminal offence in
the United States.
The court also held that the forfeiture proceedings were
civil in nature and that the evidence before it did not prove that Tinubu
submitted false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) by failing to disclose the forfeiture.
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